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Fawnolita One and Two Hit The Road

Slushing in Ashland

Well kids, it's snowing in Ashland this afternoon. It started out as a slushy mix of rain and snow but now it appears to be just snow. The ground is too warm for it to stick, so the roads should be clear. Hopefully the Siskiyou pass will be passable tomorrow when The Fun Squad makes their way North.

Slushing in Ashland, OR from http://greenamber.vox.com/

The Snow That Didn't Melt

Woke up this morning to the same snow that fell yesterday afternoon. After all it's 20 degrees and not likely to melt anytime soon. Today may mark the first time I've ever had to put chains on my little Saturn SL. I've been carrying chains in my trunk since 1998 but haven't ever put them on. (Although there was a time or two when I should have. Spontaneous trip to Sisters, anyone?)

Happy snow day.

The Snow Fell

We got a bit more snow this afternoon...I think probably 3 or 4 inches maybe.

I guess Ashland got a ton of snow today. Tomorrow should be interesting. Hopefully by tomorrow afternoon it will have melted. I have to drive into Ashland late Monday...

Snow in the backyard

An invasion of tiny parachute flakes began early this afternoon. The snow has just begun to stick on the ground and the branches of the trees. This picture was taken of the backyard around quarter after three on Sunday afternoon.

Any snow in your backyard?

It looks like a forest (and it is); but its really just my backyard.

Got a bit of snow this morning. Just a dusting on the valley floor (where I live) but showcased on the trees of the surrounding hills was a fresh blanket. Nothing like Sunriver over Christmas, but nice on my day off. It melted mid-afternoon. I hope tomorrow will be uneventful in the weather arena; I have 10 am appointment in Ashland and I definitely want to retain my long-standing record of never putting chains on my car. Any snow for you?

Salvaging Daylight in the Great Outdoors

While Candace is waxing poetic about her divine design for a 3rd floor master bathroom on the TiVo and Roomba is busy collecting dust bunnies from underneath my bed and the banana bread is baking in the oven, I thought I'd post a bit about my outdoorsy weekend.

The Medford Mail Tribune has a new section of the paper totally devoted to the great outdoors that comes out every Thursday. It's fabulous and this week's "hike of the week" was Boundary Springs, the dramatic source of the Upper Rogue River. I recruited my cousins Drew and Kelly for a hike for Sunday.

About Boundary Springs. Don't picture bubbling spring gently emerging from the ground; picture water bursting forth from the rocks. It was originally thought to be the Great Leak of Crater Lake, but it's not. The Rogue's it's own thing.

Unfortunately, I will have to settle for guidebook descriptions because we started too late in the afternoon due to some business my cousin Drew had to take care of and as we began to hike, we realized it would soon grow dark and that we wouldn't be able to make it out before it did. Drew and Kelly turned around before I did (I'm a bit stubborn) but I turned back about 15 minutes later and arrived back at the truck just as the sun disappeared into the horizon. Here's a picture of the sun sinking behind the trees in the forest about a 1/4 mile before I got back to the trailhead.

The trailhead to Boundary Springs is a Mt. Mazama (Crater Lake Rim) viewpoint and I did manage to get a picture of it just as the remaining rays of sun skimmed the tops of the trees. It was beautiful clear day but we should have allowed 3-4 hours to make it to the springs (in daylight). As this was the last weekend before it's likely to snow, I'll just have to look forward to a summer hike next June.

The weekend continued into the rest of the world's work week and today Drew, Kelly and I took the cruisers (and a mountain bike) out for a ride along Bear Creek from Talent toward Ashland for about an hour. It was another beautiful sunny afternoon and riding felt great. The weather has been really delightful down here.

Next weekend, I'll break out my newly acquired 100 Hikes in Southern Oregon and try out a 3 or so mile loop around Jacksonville (just 2 miles from where I live now with my grandpa), weather permitting. (Rain is forecast. Shocking, I know.)

Well the banana bread is out of the oven, Roomba has returned to Base, and another recorded episode of Devine Design has been watched and unceremoniously deleted. I guess it's time to sign-off.

Happy Monday from beautiful Southern Oregon.

A Perfect Fall Day on the Upper Rogue

Grandpa and I enjoyed a perfect Fall day along the Upper Rogue River today. We had lunch at Beckie's Café at Union Creek then viewed the Gorge, The Natural Bridge and Woodruf Bridge. My camera's battery made it through the Natural Bridge viewing but died before I could capture the especially brilliant Fall colors at Woodruf Bridge.

I brought along the monopod and snapped quite a few pictures. They are now living on my Flickr site in the set Fall on the Upper Rogue.

Update: I posted my mini-videos on my Vox over here.

Tulips galore

Posted a handful of pictures mom took at the tulip farm in Woodburn. Mom, Dad and Bob and Gail Bredemeier spent last Sunday afternoon there. Apparently Bob was overwhelmed with wonder at the fully functional steam-powered tractor, enough to cause him to be quite content to let the wives puruse thousands of tulips and shop contentedly for bulbs all afternoon.

View the Field Trips album at the Gallery

Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as a violation of Gwich�in human rights

From a press release from Cultural Survival:

The Gwich'in Steering Committee announced on October 25 the release of a new report outlining the implications of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as a violation of Gwich'in human rights under international law.

A Moral Choice for the United States—The Human Rights Implications for the Gwich'in of Drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge was prepared by the public interest law firm Trustees for Alaska, on behalf of and under the auspices of the Episcopal Church, the Gwich'in Nation, and Professor Richard J. Wilson, Director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic at American University.

Links:

• Gwich'in Steering Committee
• A Moral Choice for the United States—The Human Rights Implications for the Gwich'in of Drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge [PDF]

A Little Lake Wenatchee

Actually, Lake Wenatchee in Washington State (kinda by Leavenworth) is not little at all. But my photos from our visit there number only 3, thus "a little." There was no sign of the recent forest fire there, except a bunch of pup tents for firefighters at a camp nearby and on the day we visited, it was sunny and windy. Very windy, in fact. In the background of one of the pictures I took of Seth and his daughter, Adalie, you can see some of the kite surfers, there were 4 in all, sweeping the lake. It was fun to watch.

Crater Lake

In August, Mom, Dad and I headed down to our favorite campin' spot (which will remain anonymous...crowd control, you understand ;-). Nearby, is Crater Lake. Grandpa joined us on Sunday and after Mom and Dad headed back (I decided to stay a couple extra days), Grandpa and I headed to Crater Lake. More pictures are here.

The Rain in Bombay

The rain in Bombay falls on the righteous and the wrong
And there is no way for me to understand

—Caedmon's Call, "Bombay Rain"

Floods and landslides in Bombay last week have brought the city, whose airport has been my first taste of India for the last two years, to a standstill. According to this Reuters article, blame is being placed on civic authorities, who have monumentally failed in the task of urban planning for this city of seven islands, stiched together by "reclaimed land."

"Reclaimed land", according to our Singaporean tour guide, who, on our tour of the city during our layover in February, pointed out reclaimed land in Singapore, is soil brought from somewhere else and dumped into the ocean, then allowed to settle for a number years until it is determined to be stable for urban building. In Singapore's case, the soil is brought from Indonesia.

But in the case of Bombay, which is not blessed with the ingenious urban planning apparent in Singapore, hundreds died in a city of myriad urban problems, including slums and housing projects with no drainage, water-logging along the coastlines of reclaimed land, and destroyed trees and wetlands that could have dissipated waves and naturally drained the torrential rainfall.

But on a personal note, I have some friends flying out of Bombay at the end of this week. The flooding caused the airport to close nearly all of last week, so please pray that the airport's schedule will normalize this week for all the people trying to fly out.

Shift in tectonic plates may have shortened Earth days

According to a theory proposed by Richard Gross, a geophysicist with NASA's Jet Propolsion Laboratory, the effect of a huge tectonic plate being forced under another is that of making the Earth more compact and consequently spinning faster. The 9.0 Asian earthquake may also have increased the tilt in the Earth's axis. All of this means that an Earth day is now a tiny fraction of a second shorter than it was before. When these tiny fractions accumulate, scienctists will have to add a "leap second" to the end of the year.

This is a very small effect and things like this have happened to the Earth many times before. But it is intriguing to find oneself in the midst of a geological event such as this.

Full story here:
Reuters AlertNet - Quake may have made Earth wobble--US scientists

(Also, found some frequently asked questions about the Asian quake and tsunami on USGS's Earthquake Hazards Program site.)

Update and Focused Prayer Requests on Asia quake/tsunami crisis {24-7 Prayer}

24-7prayer.com: 24-7's Kim Hughes in Asia quake

Virtual prayer room created for Asian tsunami crisis

How should we pray for those deeply affected by the Asian tsunami crisis? Head over to Messy Christian's post, Virtual prayer room: Asian tsunami crisis and post your prayers, pictures, or what you think we should pray about. (A wonderful idea for lifting up prayers with one voice and in agreement with on another.)

Local aid to Tsumami/Earthquake victims

The news of the earthquake and resulting tsunami has been difficult if not impossible to comprehend.

Two Northwest relief agencies have been mobilized to send aid and support the efforts of their partners in the hard hit regions of SE Asia:

Mercy Corps - Massive Earthquake Devastates Southeast Asia

NW Medical Teams accepting support to send teams, medical supplies and support the efforts of local partners

Also, many updates at AlertNet (a news service "alerting humanitarians to emergencies." This is where most of the news stations will be getting their info.)

And Leah posted an update to her blog.

And Messy Christian is blogging on the disaster from Malaysia. (Hat tip: Andrew Jones.)

Lunar Eclipse on a Full Moon

Alan M. MacRobert (Sky and Telescope) writes, "The only slightly problematic area will be near the West Coast of North America, where the partial phase of the eclipse will begin just a few minutes after sunset and moonrise. But if you have an open view low to the east, even this situation will only add to the drama. As twilight fades, westerners will see the shadow-bitten Moon coming into stark view low above the landscape, and by the time totality begins, the sky will be getting quite dark and the Moon will be fairly high." (October's Ideal Lunar Eclipse, Sky and Telescope

Actually, the view from the west coast (Beaverton, Oregon) was stunning. I was at a children's program at church when the director came in and told us we could see the eclipse which was viewable right outside the door of the room we were in. Later, at about 9 pm (PST), we saw the white of the moon rather quickly appear and makes it way back over the surface. It was very exciting to watch. I only wish I had had my camera with me! This picture from Sky and Telescope will have to do. The colors in this picture are a little more vidid and saturated than what I observed. It was amazing, but would have been even more so with a telescope, I imagine.

Sky and Telescope - October's Ideal Lunar Eclipse

Hot and Steamy: Mount St. Helens Puts on a Little Show

For those who are interested, I've been filing my Mount St. Helens related posts in the Creation category.

Static shot, 10/27/2004, 3:28 pm (click on image to go to VolcanoCam):

USGS takes it down a notch

"Following yesterday morning’s steam-and-ash eruption, seismicity dropped to a low level and has remained low." Alert Level was changed from Alert Level 3 to Alert Level 2. [Current seismic data webicorder - St. Helens - south-ridge]

Click image to enlarge:

Current Update: Mount St. Helens Alert Level Change

Also, found this is an interesting page under "Archive of Interesting Webicorder records": Mount St. Helens Volcanic Advisory (Alert Level 3) Webicorders and Spectographs

Today's a bit overcast, so VolcanoCam images have been mostly obstructed by clouds and fog. But here's a pic of the newly forming lava dome:

Ash: A Jagged Little Potential Electricty Conductor

Ash particle, 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption, magnified 200 times Last night I found some fascinating and informative details about volcanic ash on this USGS site:

Volcanic Ash, What it can do and how to minimize damage

For instance, did you know that volcanic ash...

• does not dissolve in water
• is not soft like sand, but very abrasive and corrosive
• conducts electricity when wet
• is formed by the force of escaping gas when it violently shatters solid rock

Exciting, huh? Being a geology hobbyist and living in the Ring of Fire definitely has its perks.

VolcanoCam Animated Loop of Images

This guy Brian McNoldy put together this neat little app that loops through today's VolcanoCam images. Very nice!

Johnston Ridge Observatory Webcam Loop

St. Helens Venting Steam and Ash

St. Helens Venting Again (KOIN 6 News)

9:25 am
9:59 am
10:19 am
2:29 pm
2:54 pm

VolcanoCam Gallery for this morning's steam eruption

10:14 am
10:29am
10:59am

Mt. St. Helens is erupting!

Mom was sure right about this one. (And the scientists too, I suppose. ;-)
Here is a static captured image of the eruption. For the live webcam, go to my Mt. St. Helens Online Resources entry.

Mount St. Helens Most Definitely Rumbly in its Tumbly

A unique tremor type was detected this afternoon which the USGS guy on TV says is basically is the sound of liquid churning beneath the surface. (Eeww. Creepy magma sounds. Cool!) The liquid is of course magma and the Volcano Alert Level was raised to 3 (the highest level.)

I got the scoop from Joe across the hall in the kindergarten class. I teach the 4s and as I was waiting for my class to arrive, Joe told me what was happening. I guess I opted out of that Google News Alert too soon. But as long as one has access to an active grapevine, who needs e-mail alerts? Thanks, Joe!

Guess ma is gonna be right about this one. It looks like its just a matter of time before the mountain does whatever it is that it's gonna do.

I'm thinking an ash eruption with plenty of steam and a side of lava creeping down the mountain. Maybe a few rogue projectile boulders for good measure. But, hopefully debris flows and flooding will be left out of the story this time around.

And we wait.

Mount St. Helens Online Resources

• Current Updates, Press Releases and other information/links (The Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network)
• Mount St. Helens Seismicity Information
• Seismicity Webicorder Maps and Station Lists: Mt. St. Helens
• Mount St. Helens Special Conditions (Gifford Pinchot National Forest)
• A plethora of Mount St. Helens information and links (USGS)
• St. Helens Real time seismic activity Scroll down to find the station name, then click on today's date to see the data
• VolcanoCam
• Mt. St. Helens Satellite Imagery (NOAA Satellite Services Division)

Update: Live VolcanoCam (courtesy Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument):

Update: Location of Earthquake Monitors (HSR, JUN, CDF) on St. Helens:

Ma says it'll blow again

Correction: This is the current seismic activity for Mount St. Helens...Cool!

NOTE: PNSN crater station SEP (the one below) was broken or destroyed in the blast. Mt. St. Helens - Base Station:

Mt. St. Helens - South Ridge:

Mt. St. Helens - June Lake:

Soon after hearing from the office grapevine that Mount St. Helens erupted, I received than e-mail from my mom:

Mt. St. Helens Just blew off a plume of smoke. It looks pretty neat from our building!

It did not, however, look neat from our building. In fact our view is obstructed by the World Trade Center. So I went outside to head for the waterfront to see if I could see anything. As I was walking down the street, I ran into Michael, (who was running) and, more importantly, had the digital camera in tow. Ah ha! So I told him as we ran across the street, that my ma says there's a good view from her building, about 5 minutes down the waterfront just past Riverplace. This was hopeful information because nothing was visible from where we were; we were too low. So we made it to mom's building and she took us up to a corner office with a patio on the top floor. Sure enough, you could see where the mountain was supposed to be (and you could see it faintly) but it was just a lot of dirty air. We missed the plume.

So then Mom gave us some anecdotal history of the last time St. Helens erupted and finally said as we parted, "It'll blow again."

So we wait.

Update: Mount St. Helens is a bit "rumbly in its tumbly"

According to the Gifford Pinchot National Forest "Special Conditions" report:

A "Volcano Advisory" — Level II — was issued at 10:40 a.m. Wednesday morning, Sept. 29, 2004. A "Volcano Advisory" means that USGS has determined that "processes are underway that could culminate in hazardous volcanic activity, but the evidence does not indicate that a life or property threatening event is imminent." USGS issued this "Advisory" based on accelerated seismic activity at Mount St. Helens — 3 to 4 earthquakes per minute as of Wednesday morning and preliminary measurements showing a slight 1-2 centimeter movement in the dome, caused by earthquakes over the past five days.

No imminent threat is seen for life or property at the present time.

However, the local news is having field day spreading FUD to as many people as humanly possible. Last night I was with a group of 3rd grade girls who were nearly frantic saying, "The volcano is going to explode any minute!" While Mt. St. Helens might experience some eruptions in the near geologic future, I highly doubt it could "top" its last experience — unless it pulls a "Mt. Mazama" on us. 9/30/04

Heard on the news this morning (9/28) that the Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam is online. The volcano has been rattling a bit over the past few days, so I guess getting the VolcanoCam back online was reprioritized.

Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam - Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument

All the universe(s) on a string

I have a sort of hibernating hobbyist interest in the philosophy of science and religion and so when I caught only a bit of this documentary on so-called "String Theory" last night, I found myself captivated by animated visions of colliding parallel universes, "beautiful and elegant mathematical constructions," and the highly competitive quest to discover test-worthy evidence of this postulated reality. And I needn't despair that I missed most of it: PBS has the whole 3-hour string theory documentary extravaganza online, if you can believe it, and lots of articles and interactive content on the site for my learning-by-mass-absorption pleasure.